


their lips are lying only real is real

by vanillabeanniall



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fake Dating, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, because i am me and thats all i write, cheesy romance films, lovers tho? no theres no smut, side Ziam, sort of, tons and tons of fluff, valentines day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 21:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5716963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanillabeanniall/pseuds/vanillabeanniall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We have a special deal for couples through the next two months,” she was saying. “A free 48-hour movie rental of anything in this redbox, as long as your purchase is $10 or more. And, I have to say, you two are one of the cutest couples I’ve seen throughout this whole sale.”</p>
<p>Louis smiled politely and glanced behind him, opening his mouth to say that he and this stranger weren’t together. Then the words died in his throat. Louis abruptly grabbed the boy’s hand and turned back to the saleswoman, smiling widely.</p>
<p>“Thanks, yeah, we’ve been together for three years.”</p>
<p>The salesperson grinned and started selling the movie thing. Louis could practically feel the waves of confusion rolling off of Tall Fit Banana Boy, so he turned to him and whispered, “Just go with it, they have my favorite movie.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Or, the one where Louis and Harry pretend they're in love to get a few free movies until suddenly they stop pretending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	their lips are lying only real is real

**Author's Note:**

> ok so get ready bc i wrote this pretty fast bc i loved the prompt
> 
> title take from grease (which i have never seen bc i am a poser)
> 
> DISCLAIMER: i dont own 1d or louis or harry or niall or anyone like that and this is a work of complete fiction

Louis wasn’t into Valentine’s Day. Like, at all. In fact, he was very pointedly  _ not _ into Valentine’s Day. There was no real good in it besides the cheap candy on the fifteenth and the weird deals you could get if you walked into any store with another person around the same age and attractiveness as you. The downsides, however, were plentiful, and included the facilitation of capitalism and the painful reminder that Louis was alone in life. 

 

The second part was even worse than usual, because every other year, he had Liam and/or Zayn to keep him company in his moping, but now those two had finally gotten their shit together and gotten together, and now not only was Louis alone (and would continue to be so forever), but the consequent sadness was twice as potent because his two best friends were deeply in love and disgustingly happy. He was happy for them, of course, but he had to maintain his Bitter and Salty Persona ™ . Not that it was very difficult,  with him ending up alone forever while his two best friends got a fairy tale ending.

 

He trusted Liam and Zayn not to fuck on his couch while he went out to get some snacks and rent a movie (well, he trusted Liam’s conscience and Zayn’s hatred of cleaning not to), not being able to stand any more of watching them stare lovingly at each other and blushing and and giggling together from their tangled mess of limbs on his cheap armchair made for one. It was like watching a nature documentary: sometimes it was fascinating to see the mating rituals, but mostly it was just really boring and kind of irritating. So Louis had left as soon as he saw an opening, and that was how he found himself wandering the aisles of the closest Tesco in search of the best (and cheapest) wine.

 

The store itself seemed like it was mocking him; garish pink and red streamers hung from any available surface, and glittery hearts were strung from the ceiling. Which was just ridiculous, really, because there were still five days between now and the 14th, and no one needed to celebrate longer than the one day it had. To make everything worse, all of the current sales were centered around Valentine’s Day, so you could get a half price box of popcorn and free movie rental if you came in with your significant other (offers available through March 31st!), or you could buy a massive bouquet of roses for just $3.99! Louis glared particularly aggressively at an especially perky bundle of roses. Valentine’s Day was shit.

 

Louis hurried through the store in a worse mood than usual, not even taking the time to do more than glance at the fit boy in the fruit aisle. Louis wasn’t even sure why he was in the fruit aisle. He’d found his wine ages ago, and was just trying to kill time at this point so he didn’t have to deal with Zayn and Liam’s soppiness. Fuck that, anyway. Louis doesn’t need anybody, anyway. He’s an independent woman and all that. He doesn’t need a boy.

 

Louis’ wandering and pondering had taken him to the checkout line. He paid for his wine and ignored the person behind him, grabbing his bag when he finished and walking towards the door (and the salesperson in front of it trying to push a Valentine’s Day movie rental thing. It actually looked like something he could appreciate… if only Louis wasn’t destined to be alone).

 

Louis kept his head down even as he heard the person behind him catch up to him, and didn’t look up until the saleswoman started talking at him. And, apparently, whoever was right behind him.

 

“We have a special deal for couples through the next two months,” she was saying. “A free 48-hour movie rental of anything in this redbox, as long as your purchase is $10 or more. And, I have to say, you two are one of the cutest couples I’ve seen throughout this whole sale.”

 

Louis smiled politely and glanced behind him, opening his mouth to say that he and this stranger weren’t together. Then the words died in his throat. The stranger was the fit boy from the fruit aisle (he had fucking  _ bananas _ in his basket, and Louis was suddenly having a hard time keeping his thoughts PG and grocery-store-appropriate), and, upon even closer inspection, this boy was beyond fit. This boy was downright beautiful, with long, dark curls, downright  _ sinful _ lips, and legs stuffed into black skinny jeans for miles and miles. The boy was staring at Louis in confusion (like some sort of beautiful baby deer), and,  _ Christ _ , he had gorgeous eyes. How was it fair that Louis had to meet the most attractive person on the planet when he was in loose joggers and a sweatshirt?

 

Louis abruptly grabbed the boy’s hand and turned back to the saleswoman, smiling widely.

 

“Thanks, yeah, we’ve been together for three years.”

 

The salesperson grinned and started selling the movie thing. Louis could practically feel the waves of confusion rolling off of Tall Fit Banana Boy, so he turned to him and whispered, “Just go with it, they have my favorite movie.”

 

Honestly, Louis didn’t really expect him to keep up with the charade, but the stranger grinned (he had fucking  _ dimples _ , how was this kid real?) and nodded, curls bouncing on his shoulders. They turned back to the salesperson, who was grinning at them like you would at a box of puppies. Provided that you like puppies. 

 

“So how did you two meet?”

 

Louis’ smile faltered a beat. How did they meet? He couldn’t exactly say they met conning a saleswoman at Tesco’s into giving them a free movie. The other boy swooped in before Louis could burst into something ridiculous and lose them their movie.

 

“We met in the bathroom, actually, at a concert.”

 

Louis turned to him with a raised eyebrow. A bathroom? That’s stupid. People who meet other people in bathrooms don’t get romantically involved. That would be weird.

 

Tall Fit Boy grinned, though, and the saleslady was eating the story up.

 

“Yeah,” he continued, “We were next to each other at the urinals and I accidentally peed on him.”

 

A startled laugh flew out of Louis’ mouth. This story was getting more and more ridiculous, but the salesperson cooed like the boy was telling a story about a baby and not him peeing on someone. There was no way she was actually believing this. She was probably just charmed by the dimples and the curls. If Louis was honest, he kind of was, too.

 

Tall Fit Boy continued on his story. “We got matching tattoos for the first words we said to each other, even.”

 

Louis looked at his arm in confusion before the other boy pointed to the “oops” tattoo above his skateboarding stick figure, then a tattoo on his own inner arm that said “Hi.”

 

They weren’t the first words they’d said to each other, obviously, but it was a clever thing to point out. Louis wasn’t gonna say it was fate that had brought him to this moment and given them fake matching tattoos, but it sure was a lucky coincidence.

 

The saleswoman smiled at them, apparently enamoured by the peeing story and the tattoos (but seriously, what the fuck even is that story? Why is that the first thing he’d thought of?).

 

“You two are adorable,” she said.

 

“Thank you,” responded Louis like the polite boy he was.

 

She smiled and gestured to the movie machine. “What movie would you two like?”

 

Louis blinked. Right. The movie. He was doing this to get a free movie. He 100% wasn’t doing this to hold a pretty boy’s hand. Which he was still doing. And  _ wow _ , this particular boy has huge hands. Louis tried very hard not to notice how they swallowed his own smaller hands, when he realized the boy was looking at him with a questioning expression. Right. The movie.

 

Louis stepped forward to look at the movies, and blushed a bit in happiness when Tall Fit Boy stepped up with him instead of just letting go of his hand. Louis tapped a movie on the screen, hiding the image of the cover from the taller boy’s view as the saleswoman stepped up and entered in the secret Valentine’s Day code. Louis grabbed the movie as it popped out of the slot, hiding the front and smiling at the lady.

 

“Thank you,” he said.

 

She smiled back at him. “No problem, it was nice talking to you. Have a nice day!” she waved as the two boys walked out the glass doors.

 

Louis kept the movie hidden as they walked a bit, still holding hands and swinging them slightly.

 

“So,” came the deep voice of the taller boy from above him (and Louis was  _ not _ affected by that voice, nope, not the wonderful deepness of it or the nice gravelly quality), “do I get to see what movie we got?”

 

Louis laughed. “It’s a  _ surprise _ ,” he said. “You don’t get to see it yet.”

 

Tall Fit Boy laughed happily, dimples popping into his cheeks. “So I get to watch it with you?”

 

“That depends,” said Louis, “Are you a murderer or someone who will rob my flat?”

 

The other boy laughed. “Nope,” he said, popping the “p.”

 

Louis smiled. “That’s good, then. I promise I won’t kill you or rob you, either. I’m Louis, by the way.”

 

Tall Fit Boy smiled. “I’m Harry. Hi.”

 

Louis smiled. “Harry,” he said, testing the name out.

 

“Louis,” Harry responded behind a grin.

 

“Harry,” Louis said back, grinning. “I don’t know any murderers named Harry, so I’m going to take this as a good sign.”

 

Harry laughed. “Do you know many murderers at all?”

 

Louis smiled brightly. “I hope not.”

 

It wasn’t even that good a joke, but Harry laughed so loudly that it didn’t really matter. Louis was strangely proud of making Harry laugh. He knew he was funny, Liam laughed at his jokes often enough, but it seemed much more important to make Harry laugh, somehow.

 

“So, Louis,” Harry started after a quiet minute, “where are we going to watch this mystery movie?”

 

Louis shrugged. “My flatmates are back at mine. But they’re disgustingly in love and I don’t know if I could focus on a movie with them snogging in the background.”

 

Harry laughed again with his head thrown back, exposing a nice column of neck that Louis had to look away from, despite the small smile growing on his face.

 

“We could go back to mine,” Harry suggested. “It’s nearby and my flatmate’s out visiting family in Ireland.”

 

“Why, Harry,” Louis said, “that’s rather forward of you. I don’t even know your last name!”

 

Harry laughed. “Styles,” he supplied. “I’m Harry Styles.”

 

Louis smiled coyly. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

“Wait!” Harry said. “You haven’t told me your last name!”

 

Louis laughed. “It’s Tomlinson, if you must know.”

 

“Louis Tomlinson,” Harry said. “That’s a nice name.”

 

“Thanks, my mum gave it to me,” Louis said.

 

Harry laughed loudly, more of a squawk than a laugh, really, and slapped a (huge) hand over his own mouth.

 

“I’ve never made that sound in my life before,” he promised.

 

_ I’d like to make you do it again _ , Louis thought. “I sincerely doubt that,” Louis said.

 

Harry grinned. “You would know, boyfriend of three years.”

 

Louis laughed and smacked him on the shoulder. “How far is your flat, anyway?”

 

“Niall, my flatmate, and I live just a block from here,” Harry said.

 

“Near the park,” Louis said. “Must have a nice view.”

 

Harry smiled, dimples digging into his cheeks again. “Yeah, and I go on runs sometimes in the mornings.”

 

“Oh,  _ no _ ,” Louis moaned overdramatically, “I’ve gone and fake-dated a  _ morning person _ who  _ runs _ !”

 

“Heyy,” Harry pouted, “running is good for you!”

 

“Oh my god, are you one of those hipsters who only eat fruit and leaves and has a bike instead of a car and three polaroid cameras?”

 

Harry giggled. “I eat other food, too,” he protested sweetly. “And I do have a car--”

 

“--is it a super eco-friendly electric car or a normal, gas-guzzling car?” Louis cut in, laughing.

 

“It’s a normal car,  _ Lewis _ . And I only have  _ one _ Polaroid.”

 

“Well, I guess you’ll do, then, Styles,” Louis said, fond smile belying how pleased he was with the banter.

 

Harry laughed again. “I’ll do? What about our relationship, Louis? What about our matching tattoos?”

 

Louis joined in on his laughter, leaning into his arm (they were still holding hands, he noticed, and his heart had absolutely no right to jump a little at that) until Harry drew them to a stop in front of a nice looking building with a pretty view of the park.

 

“So we are going to your actual flat,” Louis said.

 

“Did you think I’d just kidnap you?” Harry asked, frowning.

 

“No, not really,” Louis answered truthfully. “But with a bum like this, you can never be too careful,” he said, smirking and gesturing to his own ass.

 

Harry laughed and went to unlock the door. “We’re only on the second floor,” he said over his shoulder, “so the stairs aren’t that bad.”

 

“Not bad?” Louis said. “Mate, I live on the sixth floor and we don’t have an elevator. The second story is much better than not bad.”

 

“Must have a great view, though,” Harry commented as he swung the door open, revealing a narrow hallway and gently taking Louis’ grocery bag. “Three bottles of wine, Lou?” he asked, smirking. “How many people were invited to the party?”

 

“For your information, I do in fact have friends, Harold, I just chose to drink away my Valentine’s Day-induced sorrows,” said Louis, smiling as he walked up the stairs.

 

Harry smiled, stepping in front of him as he unlocked and opened the door. Louis tried not to ogle his pert little bum. It was a struggle.

 

“Good thing I cleaned earlier today,” Harry said as they walked in and he put the bags on the kitchen counter.

 

“You clean voluntarily?” Louis said, pleasantly surprised. “No wonder I’ve kept you for three years. I knew there must have been something about you after I realized you aren’t rich or devastatingly handsome.”

 

“Heyyy,” pouted Harry, “I am handsome!”

 

Louis laughed but shook his head. “No, ‘s just your curls,” he said, pulling one lightly and watching it spring around. “Or maybe the dimples,” he said, poking Harry’s cheek and grinning when the dimples popped into existence under his finger. “Or maybe the big doe eyes,” he trailed off as he looked up into said eyes.

 

The atmosphere was thick with tension and utterly still for a moment as the two stared at each other, observing the flecks of other colors in the irises and just looking for a second. Harry really was very pretty, Louis thought. Pretty and handsome and cute and hot and everything good in a boy, really. It was a shame, really, that they weren’t actually dating.

 

“So,” Harry broke the silence after a loaded moment. “What movie did we get?”

 

Louis broke his gaze to pull it out of his sweatshirt pocket. He held up the case.

 

“ _ Grease _ ,” he said.

 

“Your favorite movie is  _ Grease _ ?” Harry asked, grinning.

 

Louis ignored the way his heart swelled when Harry remembered what he had said. “It was either this or  _ Love, Actually _ ,” he said.

 

Harry beamed even more, if such a thing was possible. “Oh my god, Louis, I love stupid romance movies.”

 

Louis smiled. “We can get one of those next time.”

 

He didn’t realize what he had said until Harry’s eyes widened, and by then it was too late to not say it.

 

“Will there be a next time?” Harry asked, quietly.

 

“Well, we do have to return the movie,” Louis said.

 

Harry grinned and grabbed the case. “Sit down,” he said. “I’ll set this up in the DVD player so we can watch.”

 

Louis watched the line of Harry’s broad back as he set everything up. It was a nice back. Probably one of the better backs he’d observed in his lifetime. Not that he really observed that many backs. Harry’s back deserved his observation, though.

 

“I played Danny Zuko in a school production of this play once,” Louis mused.

 

Harry looked at him. “I can see that,” he said. “You’ve got the looks for it, and I bet you’re a pretty good actor.”

 

“I’m actually a drama student at uni now,” Louis responded.

 

“Really?” asked Harry. “I’m studying to be a lawyer.”

 

“So you can be my sugar daddy?” Louis asked. “When you’re a rich, successful lawyer?”

 

Harry laughed. “If it keeps you off the streets,” he said. “Drama majors don’t get paid very well usually.”

 

Louis shrugged. “I’m studying to be a drama teacher at a high school, actually. So yeah, the pay is gonna be really shit.”

 

Harry curled up on the couch across from him. Louis ignored his need to stroke Harry’s hair.

 

“When do you graduate?” Harry asked.

 

“In a couple months, actually,” Louis said. “I’m kind of excited to go back to high school.”

 

Harry laughed. “So you’re what, 22?”

 

Louis nodded. “Yeah, 22. And you must be, I don’t know, 21?”

 

Harry shrugged. “20, close enough.”

 

Louis smiled at him. “Alright then, 20-year old Harry Styles who’s gonna be a lawyer, let’s start the movie!”

 

Harry grinned and pressed the play button on the remote from the other side of the couch.

 

\- - - - - - - 

 

Louis woke up spooning Harry with about five hundred worried text messages from Zayn and Liam.

 

He quickly texted them a reassurance that he wasn’t in danger and had gone home with a friend to hang out and turned his phone off.

 

Louis looked down at Harry, who was soft and beautiful in sleep, even when he was softly snoring. He slipped slowly off the couch and disentangled himself from Harry, who frowned a little and weakly reached for him as he got up, and Louis stood still for a moment just to watch the sweet looking boy and thinking about how he was so fucked.

 

Then Louis grabbed a blanket off of a chair and pulled it over the still-sleeping Harry and scribbled a note to leave on the counter.

 

_ thanks for the movie and the sleepover mate ! _

_ let me know when were gonna do the next one _

 

  * __louis x.__



 

 

He quickly added his number at the bottom and left to go appease Liam and Zayn at home.

 

\- - - - - - - 

 

“I told you, Zayn, I didn’t fuck anyone last night! I was at a friend’s house!”

 

“Okay Louis, fine… did you  _ get fucked _ last night?”

 

“Oh my  _ god _ , Zayn, I just watched  _ Grease _ with a friend! I didn’t have any sex at all!”

 

Zayn narrowed his eyes from the couch. Louis narrowed his eyes right back from where he was still stood at the door. Liam watched quietly from his position next to Zayn.

 

Louis phone buzzed, shattering the silence.

 

He looked down at what appeared to be a text from an unknown number.

 

_ Last night was fun… maybe we could rent something today and do it again? H x. _

 

Louis smiled at his phone and began to type out a reply.

 

_ im down if its a cheesy american romance movie _

 

“Oh, so you can reply to whoever that is right away but you couldn’t respond to us when you’d gone to the gas station and didn’t return for twelve hours?”

 

Louis, head still ducked, shot a middle finger at Zayn and walked into his room.

 

“That’s probably last night’s boy,” whispered Liam.

 

Zayn laughed. “No, that must have been one of his sisters. That was his fond smile.”

 

\- - - - - - - 

 

Valentine’s Day passed, and Louis didn’t find himself caring much, as he got to spend it watching a dumb romance movie on Harry’s couch, eating a spaghetti dish Harry had made because Louis had mentioned liking pasta last week, and pressed close to Harry. Platonically, of course.

 

The movie thing became a regular thing for them. Every other night, they’d go to one of the flats and watch something, more often than not falling asleep on the couch together and returning it in the morning. Their friends joined in sometimes, and Louis liked Harry’s flatmate Niall, a loud blond with a strong Irish accent and a contagious laugh, and Harry liked Zayn and Liam and they liked him as well, and all five of them got on really well as a group.

 

The problem was that Louis liked Harry.

 

They were friends for sure, and they had fun and enjoyed each other’s company and could keep up a good banter, but Louis liked Harry probably too much. Louis was pretty sure he was mostly in love with Harry.

 

So you can see why it would be problem to watch soppy love movies with him all the time.

 

They watched other movies, too, of course, but Louis and Harry’s favorite genre was romance, and more often than not they would end up watching some horribly sweet film about a straight white couple’s forbidden love. On one of those nights, Harry went on a feminist rant about how all of it is straight and white and how different types of people, like different races and members of the LGBT+ community, need more representation in the media.

 

_ I think I may love you _ , is what Louis wanted to say. “You’re right, you’re completely right, I agree 100%,” is what Louis did say.

 

“But it just doesn’t make sense!” Harry continued talking, now brandishing a spoon previously used for ice cream. “I mean, if aliens were to see what humanity was like remotely just by watching television, they’d think we’re all straight white people, and I just can’t accept that! I didn’t sign up for erasure from aliens!” Harry scooped a big spoonful of rainbow ice cream and stuck it in his mouth, frowning.

 

“You’re right,” Louis said as the movie continued in the background. “They’d think there were only three Asian people on the whole planet.”

 

Harry nodded enthusiastically, pulling the spoon out of his mouth with a  _ pop _ . “And think of all the sexualities and gender orientations they wouldn’t know! What if the aliens went out in space to discover themselves, and when they see Earth, they don’t get to learn about other ways to be, and then all the aliens think they’re straight! Like, maybe a few would think of themselves as bi, but everything else just isn’t there! What if aliens are pansexual? Or asexual? Or bigender or something? How would they know? Louis, I don’t know what I’d do if all the aliens thought they were straight!”

 

Louis nodded somberly. “I think we’d have to go back with them, Harold, so we could teach them all about everything they need to know.”

 

Harry grinned. “I’d love to live in a spaceship and teach aliens with you, Louis.”

 

Louis beamed fondly back at him and ran his fingers through Harry’s curls. “Same, Hazza.”

 

\- - - - - - - 

 

The movie thing was a real  _ thing _ for Louis and Harry, and sometimes they’d watch movies they already had, but a couple times a week, they’d find their way around to the local Tesco’s and grab a couple fruits for Harry so their purchases would amount to enough that they could rent a movie.

 

It probably wasn’t healthy or anything, regularly going out to pretend to be in a committed relationship with the boy he was in love with, but Louis couldn’t bring himself to stop. Even if it was just pretend and only for a very short amount of time, he got to be romantically involved with Harry for people to see.

 

They’d pick up a movie and return their last one before leaving with their bag of fruit (paid for by Louis, because he’s a true gentleman) and their movie. They’d link arms or something and just walk around, enjoying the city or the parks or, one memorable time, the aquarium they were walking around.

 

And as time passed and Louis hung out with Harry more, he found the  _ maybe I’m in love with my best friend _ turn into a  _ I am truly, madly, deeply in love with my best friend _ . And, honestly, he found he didn’t really mind it.

 

Sure, falling in love is painful at times, but at the end of the day, he’s in love with a beautiful, sweet, kind, intelligent boy who makes terrible puns and coos at babies and pregnant women on the streets, who paints his nails and braids his hair and knows everything about Louis, who once stopped to have a very enthusiastic conversation with a dad in a floral button down in front of a jewelry store.

 

And as long as he ignores the sharp reality where he’ll never get to kiss those pink lips or tell the curly prince he’s in love with him and hear the same in return, being in love with Harry is great.

 

\- - - - - - - 

 

Louis had met Harry exactly seven weeks ago today. It had also been seven weeks since he had first held his hand, seven weeks since they had watched their first movie together, seven weeks since Harry had come up with that ridiculous story to the saleswoman, seven weeks since Louis realized he desperately wanted to date the shit out of Harry, and in seven whole weeks, Louis had yet to kiss the other boy.

 

Zayn had figured him out ages ago, so of course Liam knew as well. Niall had probably cottoned on right away, if his calling them his “loving gay dads” was anything to go by. (To which Louis had jokingly called Harry “Daddy” in his best seductive tone, which made Niall go pale and drop his popcorn, much to the delight and amusement of the so-called dads.)

 

It was a normal Thursday morning, the same as any other, really, and Louis was eating a gourmet breakfast (cereal) with Liam and Niall. There had been an accidental squad sleepover, with Niall falling asleep in Liam and Zayn’s bed, followed by Liam and Zayn, and Louis and Harry had gone to Louis’ room to whisper together. They’d fallen asleep in the same bed, cuddled together closer than they’d been before, and Louis had been the first to wake up. Normally Harry was up early for his job at the bakery, but on his days off he would sleep much later, and Louis loved the opportunity to see Harry so peaceful and pretty.

 

After a few minutes of (creepy) staring at his best friend (who he was also in love with) sleeping, Louis got up to make himself some shitty breakfast. After he’d finished pouring his milk (second, because he hadn’t been raised in the jungle), Niall had walked in, rubbing his eyes and grinning at Louis before he stole his cereal. Normally Louis would hit anyone who touched his cereal, but it was Niall, and everyone knows Niall is an adorable cuddly ray of sunshine. Liam walked in shortly after, claiming Niall had woken him up, and sat down at the table with them.

 

The morning had been quiet so far, and there was a comfortable silence around the table as Louis and Niall ate. 

 

“Louis,” Liam started, as he did every morning at breakfast.

 

“Liam,” Louis mocked, as he did every morning.

 

“Have you told Harry you’re in love with him yet?” Liam asked, as he did every morning.

 

“Not yet,” Louis replied, as he did every morning.

 

“When will you tell him?” Niall asked, which hadn’t happened any morning yet.

 

Louis looked at him, considering. “Dunno,” he said at length.

 

“Why not today?” Niall asked before sticking his overfull spoon in his mouth.

 

Louis shrugged.

 

Niall shrugged back, spoon making his cheek puff out like some sort of oversized squirrel.

 

Zayn ambled in the door then.

 

“Morning,” he mumbled, half asleep.

 

“Zayn?” Louis asked. “Why are you even awake? I wasn’t expecting you ‘til at least five pm.”

 

“Shove off,” Zayn mumbled. He turned to Liam and shrugged. “Don’t sleep as well without you.”

 

Niall cooed through his full mouth. Louis mimed gagging. Zayn rolled his eyes and slumped down next to Liam, who slung his arm around Zayn.

 

“Harry’s not up yet?” Zayn asked.

 

Louis shook his head. “Probably still fast asleep.”

 

Zayn nodded, and silence settled over the group. Zayn got up to make breakfast (cereal) for himself and Liam.

 

“So, Louis,” he started, as he did every morning.

 

“Liam already did this,” Louis sing-songed, as he did every morning.

 

Zayn shrugged, as he did every morning.

 

“So, Lou, have you told Harry you’re in love with him yet?”

 

Suddenly, a crashing sound resonated from the doorway. Everyone in the room spun to see what had happened.

 

“What?” squeaked a voice.

 

Harry was sitting on the floor where he had fallen, stool on the ground next to him where he had tried to grab it to balance himself. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide, revealing all their green and staring directly at Louis.

 

Louis sucked in a breath. There was no way this was happening. Panicked, he turned his head to Zayn, who looked just as shocked as he had. Zayn turned to Louis, eyes wide in apology and hands held up as if to say  _ I swear I had no idea he was even there! _

 

“What?” asked Harry again, voice sounding shocked and a bit desperate.

 

Louis closed his eyes and swallowed, slowly looking back at Harry.

 

“Did he just say…?” asked Harry.

 

Louis bit his lip. Harry kept looking at him.

 

“You may as well tell him now,” Liam said.

 

Niall nodded sympathetically.

 

Louis glared at Zayn. “I may as well.”

 

Harry was still staring intently at Louis from where he was sprawled on the floor.

 

“Is it true?” he whispered, suddenly looking vulnerable.

 

Louis bit his lip again and looked down at the table. “I’d rather not do this in front of everyone,” he said.

 

Liam stood up, grabbing Niall’s arm.

 

“Wait, I wanna see what’s gonna happen!” Niall whined.

 

Liam shook his head. “I think now’s a good time to go play some FIFA or something, lads.”

 

He pulled Niall up and out of the room, followed quickly by Zayn. Harry stood up and walked over to the table, sitting down in the seat opposite from Louis, previously occupied by Liam.

 

“Is it true?” he whispered again. “What Zayn said?”

 

Louis still hadn’t looked up from the table.

 

“Lou,” Harry said quietly, “please look at me.”

 

Louis slowly raised his head and looked at Harry’s face. It was pale and beautiful, just as pretty as he always was, almost glowing in the soft morning light. His wide eyes were still wide, and a soft, light green in the pale morning. There was a glimmer of something there in his eyes, maybe hope? Louis sighed a little. Harry was stunning. He was breathtaking. He was a living, breathing piece of art. And he was silently begging for Louis to respond.

 

“Yes,” he breathed. “Yeah.”

 

Harry’s breath hitched. “Really?” he asked. “You love me?”

 

Louis simply nodded, tearing his gaze away from Harry’s face to stare at the door, blinking hard.

 

“Louis,” Harry breathed, “Lou.” He gently raised a hand to turn Louis’ face back to him. When Louis saw, Harry was a lot closer than he had been. His eyes were practically shining, and he was absolutely glowing now, glowing brightly with sheer happiness.

 

Louis bit his lip. “I love you,” he stated simply.

 

If Harry’s eyes were shining before, they were absolutely sparkling now.

 

“I love you,” Harry responded. Louis felt his own eyes widen.

 

“I’ve been thinking it for more than a month now, even though it’s really soon for that kind of thing. But, I mean, we see each other almost every day, so it’s actually a few months squeezed into seven weeks, when you think about it,” Harry rushed out. “Louis, you’re beautiful. The most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, probably, and the funniest, too, and nicest, and brightest, and I love you so much and I would date the shit out of you, oh my god, Lou, I’d date you so hard, I’d cook for you and recite fucking Shakespeare for you and kiss you all the time -- unless you don’t want to be kissed all the time, that is, some people don’t, and --”

 

“I do want to be kissed all the time,” Louis interrupted. “And I’ve never even thought about kissing someone all the time before, but with you, somehow, I want all there is you’ll give me, and I love you, Harry, and I’d really just appreciate if you’d start on your kissing promises right now, maybe.”

 

Harry wasted no time in leaning in to kiss him.

 

It was a bit uncoordinated, with the table shoving into both their ribs, and it was a bit messy, with teeth bumping a little in their slightly open mouths, but it was fantastic. Louis had never been kissed so well in his life. It was bright, and sweet, and a burst of pure joy exploded in Louis’ chest. He reached up to gently tug Harry’s curls and smiled against the other boy’s mouth. Harry smiled too, and the kiss had turned more into smiling against each other’s mouths than an actual kiss. Harry giggled, and Louis poked his dimple.

 

“ _ You kiss by the book _ ,” Harry quoted, giggling.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Louis said, somewhat breathier than what he was going for, into Harry’s giggling mouth. “ _ Romeo and Juliet _ ? The least romantic love story there is?”

 

Harry laughed and Louis grinned.

 

“I’m so in love with you, Harry Styles,” he whispered after a second, pulling gently on one of Harry’s curls.

 

Harry beamed back, brighter than Louis had ever seen, and whispered back, “And I am so in love with you as well, Louis Tomlinson.”

 

\- - - - - - - 

 

Since it was the last day the offer was available, Harry and Louis returned to the Tesco’s, walking hand-in-hand as they’d done around four times a week, every week, that afternoon.

 

Louis was sneaking pecks to Harry’s lips, liking how he had to stand on his tiptoes to reach as Harry giggled and leaned a bit down.

 

It took them longer than usual to reach the store, as they took a few detours with all the kissing and such, but they eventually got there and wandered in. They walked in the fruit aisle, holding hands and grabbing a few bananas and apples to bring their total up to $10, like the movie deal required. Louis gave Harry a small kiss on the cheek, smiling when Harry giggled. The couple checked out, and they walked to the doors.

 

Louis pulled him in front of the movie rental machine, still holding hands as they returned their movie from last night and picking a new one.

 

“You know what I feel like watching tonight?” Louis asked into Harry’s neck.

 

“What?” Harry asked, leaning down around Louis.

  
Louis smirked. “ _ Grease _ .”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for getting this far that's fucking fabulous !!
> 
> im on tumblr @vanillabeanniall if u wanna yell at me


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